Paul allen curtis



P. A. GURTlS.

METALLIC SEAL.

(Model.)

No. 271,224. Patented Jam. 30,1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL ALLEN CURTIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METALLIC SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 271,224, dated January 30, 1883.

Application filed July 21, 1882. (Model.)

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, PAUL ALLEN CURTIS, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented Improvements in Metallic Seals, of which the following is a speciiication.

Figure l is a side view, partlyin section, of my improved metallic seal. Fig. 2 is an edge view, partlyin section, ot' the same. Fig. 3 is a face view thereof; and Fig. 4 is a detail crosssection through the arm ot' the shackle. 4

The object ot' this invention is to produce a shackle for metallic seals into which the soft metal ot' the seals will be completely embedded, so as to render their removal without disflgurement impossible.

Heretofore manyendeavors have been made to produce on wire or the like a roughened surface, either by indenting the wire on its face, as indicated in Letters Patent No. 179,260, or by cutting teeth into it, as indicated in Letters Patent No. 178,722. The wire is necessarily weakened when parts are cut away, and presents an uneven surface on only two of its edges, which unevenm surface is not sufficient to insure the positive embedding` of the lead of the seal into the notches on the shackle. Where the met-al of the shackle is merely compressed, as iu Letters Patent No. 179,260, the same difficult-ies are met with-namely, that the lead does not iind suflicient supportin the unevennesses of the shackle to prevent displacement or removal without distgurement. Myinvention consists in twisting the shackle, which is made of flat metal, so as to produce alternate sections that stand at right angles to each other, and therefore alternate ribs and recesses on four ot' its sides, and it' the metal of the seal is even carelessly com pressed on the shackle it, will be sure to become properly united therewith if it enters into only one or a few of said recesses, which it is sure to do.

In the drawings, the letter A represents the shackle, and B the seal. The shackle is made,

by preference, of flat sheet metal or flattened wire. This metal is so twisted as to produce alternating sections a and b of said fiat metal, which sections stand at substantially right angles to each other-thatis to say, each section a is substantially parallel with the face of the seal B, and each section b is substantially at right angles with the face of the seal B. When the shackle thus made is passed through the seal and the latter is thereupon compressed, the softermetal ot' the seal will enter into the recesses formed on this twisted shackle,and, moreover, the projecting edges of the sections a b will more or less cut into the metal of the seal, thus insuring a complete hold for the said seal on the shackle.

In Fig. 1 the left-hand side shows the seal not yet compressed, while on the right-hand side it is shown, compressed, and the manner in which the soft metal of the seal iows into the recesses formed by the twisting ot' the metal is clearly apparent in this last portion of said view, as it also is in Fig. 2. I t is not essential that the band which is thus twisted should have straight edges before it is twisted, as the edges may be roughened or undulating.

The effect produced by my invention will be obtained, but not so perfectly if the dat wire is twisted to form spiral projecting edges ot' greater or less length between the straight sections a and b, in which case the said sections need not be at a nearly right angle to one another.

Without claiming a shackle having alternate tlat portions, I claim- The shackle of a metallic seal, having alternate fiat portions a b and intermediate twisted portions, the dat portions a being :at right angles to the flat portions b, substantially as set forth.

PAUL ALLEN CURTIS.

Witnesses:

WILLY G. E. SCHULTZ, WILLIAM H. O. SMITH. 

